If you ever needed a storage unit to put all your excess belongings, chances are you used one of the thousands of Public Storage facilities.
Or at least you’ve seen one of its properties along highways sporting the signature orange sign.
This company has left such a huge mark in the US that people frequently use its name as a synonym to indicate self-storage facilities in general.
It was started by Wayne Hughes, who was born to a poor farmer.
Even though he couldn’t afford college, he did something which got him into college tuition free.
He slowly worked himself up by learning about business and finally started Public Storage and became a billionaire.
What you could learn from this episode:
- What did he do to afford college, even though he did not have money?
- How he got the idea for Public Storage
- What backup plan did he have if public storage failed?
- Once he started, what insights did he get which made him see that public storage was better than constructing apartments?
- Initially, when no customers came to Public Storage, what did they do to get customers?
